SOCIAL AND BEHAVIORAL SCIENCES CORE (CORE E) Project Summary The overall mission of the Social and Behavioral Sciences (SBS) Core E is to facilitate the development and implementation of research related to the prevention, treatment, and care of HIV/AIDS that is based on or incorporates social and behavioral perspectives and is innovative, theoretically driven, methodologically rigorous, interdisciplinary, and of high impact. The Core emphasizes research based in the Washington, DC metropolitan area or with implications for the HIV/AIDS epidemic in the area. Core specific aims include: 1) Maintain a strong Core infrastructure that provides effective services in support of the development of new theoretically sound, methodologically rigorous, innovative grant applications and the implementation of funded research; 2) Ensure opportunities for networking and building collaborations both among social and behavioral scientists and between them and biomedical and clinical researchers; 3) Oversee education, training, and compilation of resources related to theory, methods, and design of social and behavioral research; and 4) Facilitate the conduct of community-engaged research that is guided by and of benefit to community needs, at the local, regional and national level. These aims will be accomplished through the provision of a range of services, including individual and peer group consultations; Core meetings, mixers and special networking events (including across Core and with community); development and maintenance of an experts database describing substantive, theoretical and methodological expertise in the social and behavioral sciences at the CFAR, and organizational and individual expertise represented in the community; seminars, workshops, and working groups in concepts, theories, methods and methodologies in the social and behavioral sciences relevant to HIV/AIDS; and compilation of easily accessible resources related to measures, instruments, and intervention development based on SBS principles and best practices in community-engaged research. Priority in the work of the Core will be given to early stage investigators, women and underrepresented minorities, and social and behavioral scientists new to HIV/AIDS. The Core will also direct special attention to assisting investigators who are completing R01-funded research in developing their next applications. It also will provide services aimed at encouraging collaborations of SBS scientists with clinical and basic scientists to ensure SBS research includes attention to clinical and biological outcomes, and to identify innovative ways of incorporating SBS perspectives in clinical and basic science research. Finally, the Core will emphasize the development of strong relationships with community partners in the DC area.